In some instances we can say, yes, that SEO is dead, but in the vast majority of cases it’s very much alive and kicking.

Sure Google rules with an iron fist and in the search engine field what they say goes. How is that a bad thing? Changing and growing is something everyone and their business does so why should Google get stick for wanting to perfect their most used product.

Don’t fight to control the tiger, let it roam, feed it. Keeping the tiger happy is the key.

When people say, “SEO is dead”. What they really mean is SEO is now just part of a bigger problem, but when SEO first started it was the problem.

What is the bigger problem?

A little knowledge or lack of is dangerous, the industry has been undercutting itself left, right and centre. Freelancers with small overheads can afford to charge little prices and do an average job leaving clients feeling like they’ve wasted money. Or large corps (we’re looking at your 1&1 and Go Daddy) had no problem selling a whole package website and up-selling services like SEO for buttons when in fact what they are selling is far from SEO, but a simple lie capitalising on the lack of knowledge of their target market. Again, leaving a taste of bitterness in the mouths of many small business owners on the topic of SEO.

Why have the cowboys gotten away with it all this time?

Clients.

They ask for SEO when they really don’t understand what SEO is. They may understand the basics of what is involved or a friend told them how it works and the secret to making it work.

There is no secret to successful SEO, just pure and simple hard work. Test, Measure, Learn. It takes time and there’s no short cuts.

SEO is all about keeping on top of trends, constantly improving your game plan, understanding who is doing what right, how you can implement it yourself and most importantly understanding how the search algorithms work (which have the added bonus of being constantly changed). Plus tracking and analysing everything, because your recipe may well be different to everyone else in that industry. Data is your king, queen and fillet steak.

When a prospective client approaches you and you tell them how much real SEO costs and they often balk at the thought, sometimes because they’re not taking it seriously enough, or because they don’t understand the importance. Or perhaps (more commonly than not) they have been left with a taste of bitterness from poorly managed expectations by their previous agency. It’s finding that one client who knows the true value of what we do and being able to coexist with them to achieve those goals that makes all the difference.

Generally we only want to work with clients who are serious about being advised on doing it right and growing their business online. This is why we have dubbed a new term ‘OSO’ or ‘Online Sales Optimisation’.

What is different about SEO to OSO?

Not too much, SEO is still part of OSO, but we don’t focus on vanity metrics like ranking positions of specific keywords. OSO focuses on real business metrics like sales, ROI and revenue! The one thing most important to a business and survival is sales.

So now you are no longer selling a dream but solving a problem, a real pain point for many businesses navigating a complex and often dishonest industry.

In a nutshell OSO is all about driving relevant traffic and then actually converting that traffic. OSO involves SEO, conversion rate optimisation, fixing a client’s website with usability testing. There is no perfect website out there and we do not claim to be creating a perfect website. We want to take what a client has and optimise it to the perfect degree to ensure a visitor is getting the right information and the client is getting the right sales or leads. It even extends beyond that with Email Marketing, Social Media and more but ultimately it’s a strategy. And the key is, the agency guides here (us) not the client as ultimately we’re the ones with the experience and knowledge to achieve the above effectively.

We focus on the points that matter to clients and if their site is generating ‘x%’ more sales and they are happy with that then so are we.

SEO is not dead, long live SEO, it’s just evolving and we need to keep up.